New Miura Golf President says quality, pricing “will stay the same”

New Miura Golf President Hoyt McGarity confirmed to GolfWRX that a new group has made a significant investment in Miura Golf. True Spec Golf will now act as a management company that deals specifically with the worldwide sales and distribution of Miura products.

The news of Miura’s sale, which was first reported on GolfWRX, created a flurry of discussion about Miura’s future within the golf equipment world — both the Miura family’s role, and potential changes to Miura products.

“At the end of the day, I want to get across to people that Miura Golf clubs are going to continue to be made at the same factory in Himeji, Japan,” McGarity told GolfWRX. “Mr. Miura and his family will have control over everything that goes on with production and development of Miura clubs.”

McGarity also addressed questions about Miura’s quality and pricing, saying that the company’s tolerances “have always been tight, and they’re going to stay tight.” He also said prices of Miura clubs “will stay the same.”

“[Miura clubs] aren’t for the mass market and are never going to be,” he said. “We’re an ultra-premium brand, and we’re going to stay ultra-premium.”

McGarity, 33, is also the CEO of True Spec Golf, a custom club-fitting company that was founded in 2014 and has expanded to 10 physical locations under his leadership. The company takes what it calls a “brand-agnostic” approach to club fitting, helping golfers find the best golf clubs for their game. McGarity is also the CEO of True Spec Golf sister company Club Conex.

True Spec will act as a “fulfillment center” for Miura, McGarity said, specifically as “a shipping and storage place.”

McGarity stated that the real advantage for Miura’s partnership with True Spec is True Spec’s ownership of Club Conex, a company that sells patented components that allow golfers to try the same golf shaft in a variety of different golf club heads, regardless of club head manufacturer. Club Conex is used by the vast majority of premium club fitters, opening up important distribution channels for Miura.

“Club Conex is primed to help Miura with distribution,” McGarity said. “With Miura, you’re going to see a company that’s heavily consumer-focused and dealer-focused.”

McGarity also cited the importance of improving the appeal of the Miura brand internationally. “The brand and its appearance have to be the same quality as the clubs themselves,” McGarity said. “Because no one makes better forged irons than the Miura family.”

Ok, now this makes sense. Cool Clubs did fulfillment for Miura this time last year as they started to sell their product in brick and mortar stores across the US. They built approx. 100 sets before having to stop so they didn’t fall behind with their own customers. Cool Clubs distributes for KBS now as it is much more time and cost effective for them. Unless True Spec hires two/three guys to do nothing but fulfill Miura’s orders, it’s going to be tough for them to keep up.

I watched this Hoyt guy try to bend a set of irons at Modern Golf and it was pretty bad. There are tons of industry guys with more knowledge than him. I’d give this relationship 6 months. If CC couldn’t pull it off with their facility, doubt Tour Spec will be able to handle it.

Those new irons are already a clear indicator of a different direction. I appreciate the new Presidents words, but I just don’t see how it will happen. I’m sure there will be a clear view of things that a new owner would want to do to make money, and some of the current operations are cost prohibitive in terms of manufacturing, but some of those things are what make them such quality clubs. It’s contradictory to say that “we want to increase the brand recognition world wide”, but we aren’t going to make it a mass selling brand.

The brand and it’s appearance are already as good as the clubs themselves, they just want to sell more and more of them, which I understand, as the market is becoming more and more competitive in this ultra-premium market. That being said, it’d be like saying Koenigsegg needs to market better because they sell 20 cars a year, when Ferrari sells 100. Koenigsegg’s are made in an old airplane hangar, and make the fastest cars in the world, and much like Miura, most people have no idea what they are, but for those that do, they’re all you’d ever want, and you wouldn’t want them to change.

This is like Mercedes releasing the “Under $30k” renditions of their cars. Yeah, it’s nice. Yeah, it says Mercedes, but is it really a Mercedes? Meh.

The only consolation I find in this is that the buy out isn’t from a direct competitor looking to buy out their market share (and avoid questioning over patents), so it’s not going to be an Adams-Taylormade ordeal.

Thanks for the questions and comments, guys. This response is directly from Miura:

“All Miura irons start from a single billet of soft carbon Japanese steel at the Miura Giken factory in Himeji. (this is what will always distinguish Miura irons) The next step of the process is working with our partner in Taiwan to complete the manufacturing process (the 455 Carpenter Steel face) The clubs are then shipped back to the Miura factory for final inspection before making their way to market.”

“With reference to the Miura Giken website, technically the club is “finished in Taiwan (China) and thus you are not able to say Made it Japan, however, the Miura family is involved in the process, start to finish.”

So the Japanese plant has lost capability to finish the heads? Or it’s just cheaper for them to ship them off to Taiwan/China, pay Taiwan/China labor rates, then ship them back to Japan or straight to True Spec or whoever than it is to just finish them in Japan?

I know this is partly semantics, but when you play the “Made/Forged in Japan” card so blatantly sometimes the details can be a little muddy, lol.

I do not think this is about cheaper labour rates. Taiwanese companies are, collectively, the world’s biggest producers of golf equipment. They own all of the major production sites in China and many of them have kept their specialist production units located in Taiwan (driver heads which require intricate casting tend to be produced there). I think Miura have simply chosen a high quality Taiwanese supplier to do what they are unable to do. If I remember correctly, Tom Wishon has used Taiwan based facilities for his advanced materials designs.

There is no way Miura will not fall victim (to what degree is yet to be seen) to compromise when there has been significant investment. Whoever put the money in, will expect to see money back and that will not happen with significant change.

So has TSG bought or invested in Miura Golf (which is the North American and International Sales arm of Miura) or have they bought the parent company Miura Giken from Japan who produces all the clubs for Miura and Miura Giken. So far in 2 articles it is still not clear!

Hey, are those rear tail lights or turn signals on the back? I’m guessing they flash left or right depending on ball flight direction. You know, in case you missed the flight of your ball, you can
take a quick peek at the back of these clubs for confirmation.

Today’s Forum Thread of the Day showcases Kiradech Aphibarnrat’s custom SuperStroke grips. The shape of the grips has been given the seal of approval from WRXers who have been keenly discussing the SuperStroke creations in our forums.

Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

JCM96: “Love SuperStroke’s texture and feel. If they would just release their tapered grips, they’d get a stranglehold of the putter grip market.”

jgolf215: “Interesting shape. The colors are pretty understated for him. I would have expected a much brighter green.”

nova6868: “Really like the shape on those. Would definitely buy one if they were available.”

GoIrish17: “What’s it say? SGP1.0? I like the shape of it; I hope it comes to retail (or SuperStroke sells them through their eBay store). It looks like a grip I’d like to try.”

Forum Thread of the Day: “New SeeMore putters”

Today’s Forum Thread of the Day showcases an array of new SeeMore putters. The new flat-sticks from SeeMore have been a hot topic for discussion amongst our members, with the brand’s plumber neck additions garnering plenty of reaction.

Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say on the new putters at the link below.

bunta: “The fact that they put the alignment line on the topline of the Ancers makes me feel obligated to give them a try.”

poppman2142: “So the plumbers going into the head at such a severe angle is making them face-balanced I assume? I guess I would prefer the hosel to angle towards the center of the face and have the shaft angle back where it enters the hosel, so I don’t see the entire length of the hosel at address to make it face balanced. To each their own I guess!”

MaineMariner: “Those are some very interesting and unique hosels. Gotta hand it to SeeMore, they sure are innovative. I could definitely see myself grabbing that plumber’s neck notchback.”